A VITAL facility which has helped tens of thousands of people to kick the habit is being downsized.

The Stop Smoking Service run by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust will no longer provide support for the general public.

The Bolton Council cuts are already coming into affect which will see it reduced to only providing help for pregnant women to kick the habit.

Speaking at the recent trust governing body meeting, chief officer Jackie Bene was determined not to let the cuts impact on patients.

She said: “There has been a removal of all funding for smoking cessation.

“It is an opportunity to reconfigure. What we can do is provide it in a different way. The patient should not be able to notice a difference if we can achieve that.

“We have a duty to make it much more efficient.”

Bolton Council will save £46,000 from the cutting down of the service.

A spokesman said the pressure of making savings over the last two years has resulted in the changes.

They added: “Increasing Government cuts have meant that we have had to change the way we deliver some health services.

“Public Health must make savings of £785,000 in 2017/19 and has therefore had to reduce or decommission some services.

“The Stop Smoking Service is delivered by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, and has been redesigned to focus solely on smoking cessation support in pregnancy.

“However, there are a number of pharmacies within the borough that can offer stop smoking support and specialist medication.”

In 2015 1,812 people accessed its facilities and since 2003 the trust-run service has helped more than 14,000 quit.

Most recent figures published revealed it help 587 people quite between April 2015 and March 2016.

The service has been operating out of Crompton Health Centre and until recently offered community quit sessions, one-to-one therapy, pregnancy service, hospital inpatient support, pharmacy service and GP service.

According to figures provided by the Bolton Stop Smoking Service, 468 Boltonians a year die from a smoking related illness — one every 19 hours and for every death, 20 people are left with a long term illness caused by smoking.

Around 18.5 per cent of people smoke in Bolton, with the habit concentrated to the more deprived areas, with prevalence in these areas being above 34 per cent.

When the cuts to services were announced last year Bolton nurse called for people in the town to stand up against the cuts.

Jessica Turner, a former pupil at Turton High School, from Harwood, is lent her voice to Cancer Research UK’s ‘Don’t Quit On Us’ campaign – aimed at mobilise local government to help protect from funding cuts which put lives in Bolton at risk.

A spokesman for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust added: “Patients who currently access our smoking cessation services are being advised of the changes, and where to get continued support.

“We will continue to look at ways that Bolton Council could support us to provide a similar service in the future”